National Sports Centre Papendal

The National Sports Centre Papendal is the national sports development centre of the Netherlands, located in the Veluwe woods from Arnhem.National Sports CentreThe first event held at Papendal was the 1980 Summer Paralympics, from June 21 to July 5. However the site was formally adopted and developed from 1993, after the merger of the Dutch National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Nederlandse Sport Federatie (NSF). NOC*NSF have 90 affiliated national sports organizations, representing about 2700 individual sports clubs.Papendal is also the training location of football club SBV Vitesse, and the club's youth development system. Supporting facilities include a conference centre and hotel.In preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympics, in 2011 the facility built a replica of the proposed BMX racing track at the London Velopark venue. The track will host the second event on the 2011 UCI BMX World Championships, on the 27/28 May 2011.Since January 2013 Sports Centre Papendal officially split from NOC * NSF and thus as organization demerges. This split offers Sports Centre Papendal many commercial benefits. There are facilities for various sports, including athletics, cycling and more.Papendal GamesThe Papendal Games were an annually held athletics tournament. Together with the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games and NK Athletics Papendal, the combined event was the biggest annual athletics event held in the Netherlands. Held early in the summer season, the competition was traditionally one of the last opportunities for Dutch athletes to qualify for major international tournaments. The Papendal Games were last held in 2008, suspended due to the inability to find a sponsor.